Do We Really Have it Better?

[cosmicfolklore]

Think about it. If you live on a street in a neighborhood, how many neighbors do you know? Do your kids play with their kids? Do you have neighborhood cookouts or gatherings? Think back to the fifties or sixties when almost everyone on your street or block knew one another. Now you're lucky if you know 2 out of 10 neighbors. People don't get out and meet the neighbors anymore.

Hmmm... you just live in a sad part of the world. We have festivals in our neighborhood once a week, where we have bands play in the park here. My neighbors have cookouts for the entire neighborhood. He owns a grocery store, so he cooks whole pigs at a time. I can't remember everyone's name, or first name anyways, but I know every family in my neighborhood. I have only been in the neighborhood for six years, two years in this house. The mayor knows everyone in my neighborhood by name, but I think that is a requirement of his job, ha ha. Maybe he knows everyone in town? Not sure.
I am a fairly social guy, regardless of how much I grumble about people coming up to talk to me everytime I light my pipe up. Despite that, I find that no matter where I go, when I light up my pipe, it seems to make me more approachable or something, because it always sparks a conversation. Everyone does seem to have their nose in their phones, but I have never thought that a reason not to disturb someone with conversation. And, I always have my phone open also.
I have been on this planet for more than half a decade, and I don't find people less sociable. Actually, maybe more so.
Maybe you should pick something from your garden that you have too much of, like okra or peppers and take them to a neighbor. I usually use that as a reason to get out and talk to someone that I haven't met yet or talked to a long while. That is one of the reasons I grow okra. You always get too many to eat, and it makes a great reason to drop in on someone.

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

Well, I do live in the city, my neighbors come and go, most of them rent. I can't grow a garden here, HOA rules forbid it. I wish it wasn't this way here, but I bought what I could afford, and most of the people around me are just not sociable at all, really. I'm not used to that. I grew up in the country where everyone knew everybody else. Your situation sounds great to me, but here, in my neighborhood, people just don't act that way anymore it seems. Everyone is too preoccupied with what they're doing or their own family. We always did pick extra food from our garden, walk them up the street to a neighbor for a swap for some persimmons, or in exchange for the work they did when they came up with their tractor to till up out garden for us. Never had to worry about new neighbors, because they were always the same. When someone was sick, you knew about it and my grandma made them some chicken stew or a cake, or pie or both. It just feels different where I live now to where I grew up, but it's the best I could do with where I am now. Most civil engineers have to be in cities where the work is. As much as I don't like being in the neighborhood I'm in currently, I'm stuck for now, until I find something better. I love quiet, small town life where everyone knows everyone else and you have those types of gatherings. Maybe one day.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Ah, HOAs, the communism in our midsts. Ha ha! My town is a suburb of Birmingham, with quite a nice mix of cultures and ethnicities. But, it does still have that small town feel to it. Ranked in the top ten lists of cities to live in nationwide. We do have a few HOAs in town, but when looking at houses, being in an HOA struck it from our list. I cannot imagine not having a garden, nor do I understand why anyone would worry about a neighbor having one. Blows my mind. I'd rather a neighbor have a garden than a... well I can't think of anything I wouldn't want a neighbor doing in their own yard, ha ha.

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

Yeah....I hate them, just couldn't find a single house that was on the market we could afford that wasn't in one, unless I was willing to make it a 2 hour or more commute back and forth to work, which I most certainly was not. The apartment I moved into when I first got my job here was getting higher and higher in rent, so I bought a house and pay less in a mortgage than I was about to start paying in rent for the next year if I stayed. Did a 5 year ARM so that gives me another 3 years to maybe find one without an HOA plus an actual yard I can let my dog run around in. One day, we'll be there. Timing is everything.

 

[bnichols23]

Better in many ways and worse in a few. I'll take it, since I don't seem to have much choice. :mrgreen:

 

[nitemair13]

Sadly I live in a neighborhood and I know only a few who live out here and are friends with basically 2 of them. The HOA here is pretty loose, they messed up in foundin it where things have to be approved by every member to get changed. So it's basically don't leave junk in your yard, and keep the place looking nice. I can't argue with that but the only neighborhood cookouts are HOA meetings and those are not fun. Doesn't help that I don't handle large groups of people well. One on one, or two or three, I'll talk with you and be sociable. Larger groups and I just sort of retreat to the corner and if there's an animal there I'll hang out with it. Doesn't help that small talk bores me, I like deeper talks that share stories, views, opinions. I don't care if the opinion differs from mine, I can still learn from it. I believe Henry Ford said "You're only old when you stop learning".
And CCW I've often thought the same about being born in the wrong generation. Mainly because I like the old ways and those older than me more so than the modern era or my generation. I only use my phone in public if I need information or calling someone. I'm big on situational awareness so I keep my phone down and my eyes open.

 

[woodsroad]

Get off my lawn.

All of you.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Whoops, sorry Roads, I just stopped by to fertilize a tree. ::

 

[wyfbane]

I tend to think of pipe smoking as social. I would rather it be a comeraderie thing the way cigars often are. Not all the time, but sometimes. It is more difficult to facilitate that these days than in past times, so I will count that as a negative. The pipes and blends make up for it though.

 

[philobeddoe]

I live rural and I only have one neighbor within a half mile or so, we’ve talked maybe six or seven times in the ten years he has lived here, best neighbor I’ve ever had! We don’t talk all the time, we’re constantly minding our own business, neither of us has ever been inside the others’ home, I hope he never moves.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I live in a tobacco friendly community. Mostly cigarettes, chew, and cigars but there are a few pipe smokers. We are witnessing the beginning of the end of the tobacco golden age, but I could spend the rest of my life with two or three blends.

 

[newbroom]

At first it burns your tongue, but a smart person will figure out how to make it pleasurable, unless they are the type to just give up easily. Too hard, won't try.

That was ME in my early 20's. Not that it was too hard, though, just didn't have enough faith in 'it' and myself, and was already addicted to cigs.

MAYBE, if the internet was around then, I would have persisted after reading the rapturous accounts here about blissful bowls of tasty, satisfying, cool burning, white ash leaving, rich, natural tobacco.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

Carolina Churchwarden, Here I'm the same,I think I was born in wrong generation or so it seems when I look around,,

 

[mikethompson]

Wow, this thread has taken off.
I tend to think that 'the good old days' weren't really that good actually. But then again, I still talk to most of my neighbours... Hmm.

 

[davet]

My new next door neighbours came over to introduce themselves the other day, we had no idea the previous owner moved four months ago 8O

 

[lordofthepiperings]

Just my personal view, but I think today is good for pipes. Us "youngsters" are very much into researching things and looking things up online, so forums like this are great for the hobby. It's a great place to learn about the hobby before jumping into it. I know some people couldn't care less about the YouTube community, but I think they've really helped grow the hobby as well with informative how to videos and blend reviews. A lot of 20-30yr olds get curious about something and the first thing they do is hit up YouTube to learn about it. I think the exposure to different packing techniques and more information on types of pipes/tobaccos has probably led to more people staying in the hobby than they did back in the day.
I do wish that it wasn't so hidden away in our study/garage/patio. It'd be nice to be able to go out to eat with the wife and be able to have a bowl for an appetizer or to be able to go to a ballpark and enjoy a bowl while watching some baseball.

 

[crashthegrey]

Cosmic makes a great point. I went to visit the Kaywoodie factory about two weeks ago and the conversation with Bill was enlightening. We were talking about the pipe market, and he really opened my eyes to the fact that us, here, the forum types, are such a severe minority. If he listened to us every time we said what a pipe maker or company should do, he'd be bankrupt. Forum members are such a vast minority, things start to make more sense when you take a step back and look at the retailers and manufacturers realizing how small this part of the community is, and how large the part of the community is which consists of guys like your neighbor who smokes a pipe but you never knew because he only smokes after dinner or in the back yard.

 

[warren]

We have a cross section of the pipe smokers here I believe. Everyone from the once a week smoker to those of use who have a pipe in our mouth from the time we rise until returning to bed. But, the membership is indeed a wee, tiny, negligible, almost infinitesimal percentage of smokers around the world. Certainly not worth being catered to by the blenders and manufacturers, much as we'd like to believe differently.

 

[sablebrush52]

If he listened to us every time we said what a pipe maker or company should do, he'd be bankrupt.

That piques my interest. What examples did Bill give?
Tiny? More like subatomic. We have, what, a core of 60 or 70 regular posters phasing in and out at any time, and many of them are on multiple forums. So maybe it's sub-sub-subatomic.
But what surprises me is that a lot of people lurk and take away a lot from these forums as well as other pipe related social media. Just the other day I was walking down the street. smoking my pipe, when I heard someone hailing me so that he could ask about what type of tobacco I was smoking. It developed into a very enjoyable conversation as we talked about pipes and tobaccos and he showed me pictures on his smartphone that he had of his collection. And he referenced learning a lot from forums, tobacco reviews, and YouTube, though he had no desire to participate.

 

[crashthegrey]

We were specifically discussing the somewhat recent decision to remove stingers from all but the campus line going forward, as well as some details of the brylon pipes. Additionally, especially more on the medico and yello-bowl lines, design and "engineering" choices. What sells to guys like me, and other forum members, is not what he gets the most orders for. It is very interesting but I don't want to say too much.